Escaping Through The Storm
by Sagethorn
Summary: Two cats from opposite sides of the land are escaping. One was driven away from his home on charges of betrayal. The other ran off from her clan after being unfairly accused. Their trails collide, and they become wary companions. But two forces stalk them. The tom's former gang wants revenge. The she-cat's clan wants her back. Can they stay alive and together?
1. Chapter 1

**[Author's Note: Hello! Alright, this is my first published story on this website. Yay! I actually wrote this story (Well, the first few chapters of it, anyway) a long time ago, but I dug it up from my computer and decided to fix it up a bit and continue it. All the characters are OC's, just so you know, and the setting is made up, too, but not deeply described, so picture it however you want. It's rated T for some violence but mainly because I'm new to this website and paranoid. Remember, I wrote this when I was new at writing, so I dunno if you guys will like the style, but I do think this is one of my better pieces. Please feel free to give me some constructive critisism. Oh, and please review! Enjoy!]**

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_**ALLEGIANCES:**_

**THE GANG OF CLAWS:**

TONY Brown tabby tom

NIGHT Black tom

SKY White she-cat with grey ears and a grey paw

FIRE Ginger tabby tom

MARY Dark brown she-cat

STREAM Light grey tabby she-cat

RAIN Dark grey tom (Stream's brother)

BILLY Golden tabby tom

ICY Grey and white she-cat with sparkly blue eyes

**THE GANG OF FANGS:**

LEMON Light golden tabby tom

LIME Light golden tabby tom (Lemon's brother)

WILLOW Grey tabby she-cat

LILLY Calico she-cat

TOM Brown tabby tom with a white chest

BUSTER Silver tabby tom

FLUFFY Fluffy ginger and white she-cat

THISTLE Big long-haired white tom with grey eye-patches and tail

SPLASH Cream colored fluffy she-cat

**THE GANG OF FUR:**

WHISKER Tawny colored tom

CLOVER Tan tabby and white she-cat

HUSK Light brown tabby tom

TIP Black tom with white tipped paws

BLAZE Longhaired orange tabby tom

MIMI Small calico and white she-cat

MAX Dark grey tabby tom

JINGLE Ginger and white tom

RILEY Stoney grey tom

**RIVERCLAN:**

**L:** STONESTAR Slim grey tom

**D: **REEDFUR Ginger tabby tom

**MC:** WILLOWGALE Longhaired grey and white she-cat

**W:** MOUSEFOOT Tan colored tom

GREYTAIL White tom with a grey tail (Appletail's brother)

BREEZEFERN Black and white she-cat (Rainfeather's sister)

LILLYPAD Slim pretty dark brown she-cat

FLOWERPELT Tabby and white she-cat

FERNWILLOW Dainty orange tabby she-cat

TWIGLEAF Dark brown slim tom (Lillypad's brother)

RAINFEATHER Pretty tawny colored she-cat with a white belly

HAYFUR Light brown tabby tom

APPLETAIL White and grey tom with a grey tail and blue eyes

**A:** HAWKPAW Light brown tabby tom

WHITEPAW Medium haired white tom with blue eyes

BLACKPAW Black and grey tom

**THUNDERCLAN:**

**L:** MINNOWSTAR Silver tabby tom with a white belly and paws

**D: **THRUSHTAIL Tortioseshell tom

**MC:** ROBINFUR Brown and white tabby she-cat

**W: **STARTAIL White she-cat

HOUNDCLAW Tan tom with dark brown points

BRUSHWILLOW Black tom with folded ears and tufted toes on white paws

**SHADOWCLAN:**

**L:** DARKSTAR Black and brown she-cat

**D:** SEEDTAIL Ruddy tabby ticked she-cat

**MC:** TROUTFUR Golden tabby tom

**W:** OAKWHISKER Brown tabby tom with white paws

MALLOWFUR Misty grey-white colored she-cat

ICEFOOT Misty grey-white she-cat (Mallowfur's sister)

**WINDCLAN:**

**L:** RUNNINGSTAR Dark ruddy tabby ticked tom

**D:** BRAMBLESTRIPE Brown swirled tabby tom

**MC:** SPRUCEBREEZE Dark grey tom with one white paw and a white muzzle

**W: **CREEKSPLASH Grey tom with white muzzle, belly, chest and paws

LEAFNOSE Tuxedo tom with pink nose

MINTPELT very light grey medium-haired tom

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"Mouse-dung!" Tony spat, scrabbling up the brick. "This doesn't even make sense!" Claws scored the red stone just under his paws.

"Fox-face!" Night spat. "Get down here so I can tear your head off!" Tony leaped up onto a higher pile as the black tom began to climb the wall.

"Get what you deserve!" Fire hissed, leaping up to join Night.

"Yeah! Tratior!" Sky screamed, clawing her way up the crumbling wall of brick.

"Stop!" Tony yowled, wacking Night on the head. "This isn't worth it!" A bolt of lightning lit up the sky in a flash of white.

"It is!" Night spat, tearing away at the bricks under Tony's paws. "You are a tratior and a menace!" Fire sprang up the wall and landed in front of Tony, raising a paw to strike.

"Try it, fox-heart!" Tony snarled, swiping the orange tabby with his paw. Fire yelped as he toppled back down the stoney structure. More white lightning blazed the sky. The furious figures of cats clawing up the brick shone bright for a moment, lit up against the flashing sky. More cats had come, Stream and Rain, just coming back from hunting, had dropped their prey and had started slithering up the pile.

Tony twisted around and kicked a brick down with his hind legs. It crashed down the mound, striking Rain in the face. The grey tom lost his grip and crashed to the earth. Tony scrambled up a little higher. He shot a glance over the far side of the pile. The floor of the crumbling Twoleg nest was far down. A few fox-lengths along was the mostly-whole wall. He could squeeze through a gap, or maybe climb it...

"Don't even think of escaping, fox-hearted coward!" Night screeched, pulling himself another tail-length closer to Tony. "You know what you did!" Lightning flashed, lighting up the sky in a dazzling burst of white.

"No I don't!" Tony shrieked, climbing higher. Thunder rumbled in the distance

"Liar!" Night screamed, hauling himself onto the ledge Tony stood on a moment ago. "You know you are a tratior!" Thunder exploded overhead. With a wail, Tony clung to the brick under him, afriad it would crumble under the furious rumbling. All the other cats, even Night, tucked their heads under their paws, digging their claws into the brick for dear life. Tony lifted his head. Seeing the other cats were still cowering, he took the opprotunity to clamber up the brick higher. He was near the top, so climbing was slow and difficult, as not to fall down the brick.

Claws pricked his tail. Tony yelled in pain and spun around. Night was clinging to his tail, using his back legs to scramble up until he could stand on the same pile as Tony. His snarl was drowned out by thunder crashing overhead.  
"You _tratior_." He spat. "You are a disgrace to The Gang Of Claws!" Tony swatted Night's paw, making his release his tail. A thin trail of blood trickled from it, staining the bricks under his paws.

"I..didn't do..anything!" Tony panted.

"You did!" Night screeched. "You went against The Gang Of Claws."

"By chasing off intruders?" Tony hissed.

"You didn't chase them off!" Night spat, eyes flasing. "The Gang Of Fangs was stealing food and you let them!"

"No I didn't!" Tony wailed. "I saw them and told them to get off our land!"

"Wimp! Coward!" Night snarled. "You let them get away without a scratch!"

"What was I supposed to do? Tear them to bits? Some of them were no bigger than kits!" Tony yowled.

"They were stealing prey!" Night hissed.

"We had no proof! They were barely inside our border! They were only at the trash heap!" Tony growled.

Night unseathed his claws. "They still stole prey! They had two rats! We eat rats! Since when do rats go inside The Gang Of Fangs border? They live in the trash heap!"

"I drove them off like any cat would." Tony hissed.

"I would have ripped them to shreds!" Night spat.

"Then you are vicious and dishonorable." Tony murmured. He spun around and began to climb the bricks again. Thunder rumbled, and Tony didn't hear the snarl behind him. Night sprang at Tony. He hooked his long sharp claws into Tony's flank. Tony yowled in pain as his fur turned dark with blood. He spun around and raised a paw. He swiped, quickly sliting Night's nose open. The black tom screeched as blood sprang from the cut. He released Tony with a yowl as warm sticky blood soaked his face.

Sky, who was the closest to Tony, saw the brown tabby tom slice open Night's nose. She saw the red arc that spilled from his deep cut.

"NO!" She spat. She lept nimbly up the bricks as though they were just clouds. She leaped over Night, who was writhing on the stones, and landed in front of Tony.

"Leave Night alone!" She cried. She raised a paw and struck his face. Tony yelled as long red scratches formed across his cheek. He stumbled backwards, but Sky leaped on him. She dug her needle-sharp claws into his stomach and bagan to pummel him with her hind legs. Tony felt his fur tear and blood began to run onto the brick.

"Stop!Stop!Stop!" He cried. He dug his paws under Sky and heaved her off, gasping as her claws released him. With a cry, Sky tumbled backwards and slid off the ledge. She toppled down the brick wall, thumping and crashing on stones, small bits of brick clattering after her. The other cats stared in horror as she crashed down past them before hitting the ground with a thud. She wasn't moving.

"Sky! No!" Night cried, tears welling up in his eyes. Everyone knew him and Sky were mates, and even that they were going to have kits. He flattened his ears and let his tail hang to the ground. He was quiet for a while, not moving or making a sound. Tony began to edge back up the hill, but he was already at the top, and he couldn't go up anymore.

Night's ears and tail gently began to lift. The fur on his back stood erect. Ever..so..slowly, he turned around, his amber eyes ablaze with fire. They locked on Tony, and through a flash of lightning, Tony saw his lips curl in a smile. He chuckled softly as he moved towards Tony. Tony tried to edge back, but his back legs almost slipped over the back of the wall. Lighning flashed again, and Tony saw that Night's smile had turned into a menacing snarl. His fur was so strait he looked like a porcupine. He walked on the tips of his claws, his back arched as high as it would go. His ears were strait, pricking at Tony. A long deep growl rumbled in his throat.

"Tony," He snarled. "You-you have gone _beyond_ a tratior. You..have _killed_..Sky!"

"I-I-I d-didn't tr-try it!" Tony sputtered, flattening himself against the brick and trying to will the stone under Night's paws to crumble. But Night only slid sure-footedly up higher.

"Murderer! Murderer!" Night screamed as lighning burst through the clearing. "I'll tear you to pieces Tony! I'll tear you up and feed you to the rats!" He leaped almost three tail-lengths up and landed in front of Tony. He swiped a paw low, trying to rip Tony's belly open. Tony leaped strait up, dodging the blow.

"I'll rip your ears off, crow-food!" Night caterwauled, swiping two paws at Tony's head. Spittle flecked from the black cat's mouth. Tony scrambled wildly out of the way. He felt the ground sliding out from under his paws. He screeched as the brick disappeared and he clawed frantically through the air. The wind blasted through his fur as he gained speed. He screwed up his face as wind whipped at it and stretched his paws strait down, his tail streaming out behind him.

Tony forced his eyes open and saw the concrete looming under him. He cracked down onto the floor, crying as he felt his bones snap and his legs buckle under him. He opened his eyes and saw blood puddling under him. He gathered his legs under him and forced himself up. He wailed as he put weight on his front leg and wavered, almost collapsing back onto the ground.

"There he is! Get him!" Someone snarled from above. Tony glanced up. Night was peering down over the brick wall. Tony heard paws pounding over stone just before Fire and Rain burst around the corner. Tony yowled and limped frantically for the opposite wall. Fire and Rain were unhurt and fast, but Tony had a big head start. He was almost to the wall and glanced back at the two cats. They were far behind. Suddenly he heard a hiss. He turned back around and gulped.

Standing in front of a large hole in the wall and him were three cats. Billy, Mary, and small little Icy. They all had their hackles raised and their claws unseathed.

"Get him!" Tony looked back. Fire and Rain were gaining. He couldn't stop. Without even pausing in stride, he ran right for the cats. He was only about a fox-length away. Mary looked shocked and Billy took a step back. Icy looked uncertiantly at the older cats.

With two more bounds, Tony landed in front of the cats. But he didn't stop there. Bunching three of his legs under him, (Except for the injured one) He leaped up, and sailed right over the three cats! Three pairs of paws swiped at him but missed every time. Tony crashed down behind them and sprang for the hole in the brick, flying neatly through it. He landed on the tangled weeds below and paused for a moment, panting. Then he scrambled to his paws and bagan to limp painfully away. It wasn't until he was several fox-lengths away that he glanced back, and saw Night's head peering through the gap he had come through.

"That's right, run, Tony, run!" He screeched. "You are never welcome in The Gang Of Claws again, Tony, never!" Tony bundled through the thick grass until Night's voice faded and all he heard were the coming noises of the storm.

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**[Author's Note: And there you have it, the first chapter! Personally, I think this chapter is my favorite. How was it? Good? Bad? OK? I'll put the second chapter up quickly if you guys review! Seeya for now!]**


	2. Chapter 2

**[Author's Note: Okay, nobody appeared to have looked at my story since I put it up, which isn't really surprising since I just put it up last night, but I'm gonna go ahead and post a new chapter anyways. Enjoy and please read and review!]**

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"Rainfeather is gone!" Mousefoot yowled. The rest of the patrol scrambled into camp, dripping wet and shivering. Reedfur scrambled up to the tan cat and let him lean against him. He turned to the rest of the patrol.

"Go rest." He ordered them. "This is no weather to be swimming." Nodding and shaking their fur, the three other cats stumbled back to their dens. Reedfur turned to Mousefoot.

"Can you come with us?" He asked. Mousefooot straitened up.

"Of course." He meowed, trotting confidently towards Stonestar's den. The warrior and the deputy scrambled across the fallen log to the hollow in the trunk. They squeezed through the small hole and peered in the den. The grey shape of Stonestar was curled up at the end of the tunnel, sound asleep.

"Stonestar!" Reedfur called loudly. Stonestar rasied his head, his yellow eyes glowing in the dim light. He yawned widly and stretched his paws.

"What's up?" He murmured.

"The patrol has returned." Reedfur announced. Stonestar scrambled to his paws.

"Well?" He demanded. "What's the report? Where is Rainfeather?"

"Gone." Mousefoot said with a sneeze. "We searched half of the territory, all the way to the borders. We swam a length of the river, checked the gorge, everywhere. No sight nor scent of her was found." He stopped, shivering, and sneezed again.

"Go to Willowgale." Reedfur ordered. "It sounds like your catching a cold." Mousefoot shook his wet head, still shivering.

"No." He mewed. "We need to go back and look. Rainfeather could be anywhere! We need to-" He broke of coughing, hunched over like a rock. Reedfur shoved him with his muzzle.

"Go." He ordered. Mousefoot stumbled out of the den, sneezing and hacking, his tail dragging on the ground. Reedfur turned back to Stonestar.

"We need to send out more cats! We must check everywhere! Past our territory! In the other clans! Past the forest!" Stonestar cried. Reedfur shook his head.

"No. No more patrols." He said firmly. When Stonestar hissed, Reedfur laid his tail over his leader's shoulder. "I mean," He meowed. "It's too dangerous. Mousefoot and probably most of his patrol are sick. The other patrol has yet to return, but I presume they will return the same way. That's a lot of cats who will not be able to fight or patrol or hunt for a while. The more cats you send out, the less that can care for the clan, and we will lose more cats than Rainfeather. You know Leaf-fall is no time for swimming. Especially with a storm brewing." Stonestar drew away from his deputy with a snarl.

"It's also no time to lose Rainfeather!" He spat. There were pawsteps overhead, and a moment later a black-and-white she-cat poked her head through the opening.

"Oh, hi Stonestar, hi, Reedfur." She mewed breathlessly. "i just saw Mousefoot in the clearing. Well, what happened? Where's Rainfeather?" She looked at them with wide golden eyes. Reedfur glanced back at Stonestar, then cleared his throat.

"Er..Rainfeater...was not recovered." He said cautiously, trying not to upset the she-cat. It didn't work.

"What!?" She cried. "Where is Rainfeather!? Where is my sister!?"

"Take it easy, Breezefern." Reedfur soothed. "Maybe the other patrol will come back with her." Breezefern let out a cry.

"They had better come back with her! They had better find my sister!" She sobbed, leaning on the wall of the log. Reedfur gave her a gentle nudge towards the entrance, and she stumbled out on wobbly legs. The orange deputy turned back to his leader.  
Stonestar snarled. "Even Breezefern knows we must find her." He growled, baring his teeth at his deputy.

"Breezefern is her sister, and she was being a bit hysteric." Reedfur meowed smoothly. Stonestar said nothing, turning his head away. Suddenly, there were pawsteps outside and a wild clamor in the camp.

"I presume that is the other patrol." Stonestar said, still not looking up. "Go see if you can make good on your prediction to Breezefern." Reedfur dipped his head. But before he could move there was a mournful wail from outside. Stonestar cringed, flattening his ears.

"I assume that is Breezefern." He said icily. He whipped his head toward the entrance. "Bring me my daughter." He ordered. Reedfur nodded and slipped out of the den.

In the clearing, cats milled about wildly, chattering in hushed voices or yowling out loud. He shoved past some cats crowded in a big circle and came face to face with the dripping form of Twigleaf. Two cats stood behind him, just as wet. Reedfur gave them a quick once-over.

"We'll talk later." He told the dark brown tom. Twigleaf dipped his head. Reedfur pushed past him and into the clearing. A black and white cat was hunched in the center of the clearing. She was wailing, tears dropping from her face onto the dusty ground. Reedur steered over to her.

"Breezefern?" He whispered. She glanced up, her golden eyes wet.

"What?" She sobbed, choking back a wail.

"Your father wants you." He murmured. When Breezefern didn't move, Reedfur gently bit her scruff and coaxed her to her paws. He gently curled his tail around her neck and guided her to Stonestar's den. Reedfur nimbly climbed across the log and squeezed through the opening. He started down the tunnel when he realized no one was following him.

He leaped back out of the opening and padded across the log. Halfway across, Breezefern was crouching on the brk, both front paws wrapped around the trunk. Her eyes were huge and she was breathing rapidly. Reedfur bounded over to her.

"Breezefern." He hissed in her ear. "Get up."

"No." She panted.

"Get up." Reedfur snarled.

"N-n-no." She gasped.

Reedfur sighed. "What's wrong?" He asked more nicely. She took a shuddering gulp of air and shook her head.

"I-I can't do it." She mewed, her sides heaving.

"Yes you can...now UP!" He snapped. Suprised by his shout, Breezefern blinked a few times, then scrambled to her feet. She followed her deputy shakily to the den and through the entrance. They picked their way through the tunnel and Pushed through the hanging moss screen. Stonestar was curled up on his nest and seemed to be asleep again. Reedfur was about to call to him when a voice boomed.

"Have you brought my daughter?" Reedfur turned about and nudged Breezefern into the hollow.

"I'm here, Father." She said, sounding a bit stronger.

"Ah, yes." Stonestar murmured. "Now, where is Rainfeather?" Breezefern cowered and whimpered, looking more like a frail kit again.

"She's-she's gone, Father." She mumbled. Stonestar bristled. He turned to Reedfur.

"You see? We must send cats or she will be lost forever!" He spat. Breezefern let out a wail. Stonestar nosed his kit onto his soft nest. She flopped down in exhastion, pressing her head into her father's flank.

"No, Stonestar. No, no, and no." Reedfur meowed.

Stonestar's hackles raised. "Reedfur-" He began.

Reedfur turned to Breezefern. "Go, Breezefern." He meowed. "Your father and I need to have a discussion."

Stonestar gently nosed Breezefern up and pushed her towards the tunnel. She staggered along and slipped out the opening. The grey leader turned back to Reedfur and stomped his paw. "I am your leader, Reedfur, and I make the final call!" He snarled. Reedfur dipped his head.

"I understand that, Sir, but I am just worried for the wellfare of the clan." He mewed. Stonestar just stared at him with yellow eyes. Reedfur dipped his head again.

"Well, Sir, we need healthy cats to hunt and patrol. If we let all our cats get soaked and cold, we'll have a medicine cat's den full of sneezing cats and an empty warrior's den." He reasoned. Stonestar paused, yawning, then struggled to his shaky feet.

"Fine. Move along, Reedfur, and I will announce this ridiculous plan to the clan. And see if they agree Rainfeather should be left alone in who-knows-where." He snarled, picking his way to the moss screen on thin, bony legs. Stonestar was an old cat, he had been leader since before Reedfur was born, and although Reedfur didn't ever know how many lives he had, he figured it couldn't be many more.

"Stonestar." Reedfur murmured, standing in his leader's way. "I-I know Rainfeather is your daughter, but you know you need to-"

"Step..aside..Reedfur." Stonestar snarled. Reedfur obediently stepped out of his leader's way, and let the old cat stagger down the tunnel and out the entrance before bounding after him.

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	3. Chapter 3

**[Author's Note: Okay! Here is the long-awaited (Not really) chapter 3! It's rather short and mostly is just a character's thoughts, but whatever works, you know? Anyway, I'd like to thank Storm Of The Fate for being the first to review. Thank you very much and I'm glad you like my fanfic! And to all you other people out there, please read and review! Thanks! :D]**

Tony stood in the thick weeds, not sure what to do next. He had run as far from the crumbling Twoleg-place as he could until he was long away and in dandelions and grasses long enough to hide him. He had finally paused in an overgrown field by a broken-down barn while the sun began to set. He settled down in the prickly weeds and pondered what to do next. He knew he couldn't stay in The Gang Of Claws territory much longer, or Night would hunt him down and maim or kill him. But, where would he go? There was a rustle in the weeds. Tony pounced on a tangle of grass, landing on a small mouse and snapping it's neck. He tossed it back into his flattened tangle of weeds and settled down. He gave it a quick sniff. It looked plump and juicy, unlike the bone-thin prey back home. Er, his old home, anyway.

Which reminded him, he was going to need a new home. Tony didn't mind...much. He had been planning to leave the Gang Of Claws and join up into the Gang Of Fur anyway. Prey in the Gang Of Claw's territory was getting scarce, and Night was getting too pushy. But now Tony couldn't even join up with another Gang, because by now Night would have sent a scout to spread the news that Tony was a wanted criminal. No Gang would take in a wanted cat. Too risky.

He thought for a moment. He knew of a forest far away, many days walk. He took a large bite of his mouse and chewed slowly, Mmm, not bad. Better than rats. Anyway, back to the forest. He knew it had ample space, was crawling with prey, and had everything a cat needed to live. But he had heard stories of that place. Vicious wild-cats the size of badgers roamed the woods, river, moors and marshes. They ate rabbits and squirrels in two bites, and devoured the bones as if they were merely berries to be swallowed. They had claws as long as their paws, and constantly waged wild, bloody wars against each other. Their pelts dripped blood and they slept on nests lined with their enemies pelts and tails!

At least according to the legends. But he didn't have any reason to not believe the stories. One night, many moons ago, when the Gang Of Claws made their headquarters in an old walled garden, they were awoken in the night by wild screeches and shrieks. The sound were very far off, very faint. But they sent a blood-curdling chill through all the cats. Those were war screams and howls of pain. And, judging by the varying pitch of the screams, it was a battle that involved many, many cats. That definatly wasn't a Gang skirmish! None of the Gang had gotten much sleep that night.

And then there was the Gang Of Bones. They used to exist in the loose communities of other Gangs. They weren't very large and they were somewhat exclusive, rarely taking in outsiders or former members of other Gangs. Tony didn't remember much of them, only that their leader was a huge white cat with a fluffy pelt and all the members wore collars studded with metal spikes. Anyway, like many other former Gangs, they faltered and failed. The prey in their territory ran out, they were too small in number to take land from another Gang, and Twolegs were causing trouble for them. So they left. The headed in the direction of the forest. Their leader boasted that they would grow fat from the plentiful forest land and return.

But they never came back. And, several moons later, a scout for the Gang Of Fangs was dispatched to look for more land. He went as far as the elusive forest, and there, merely several tree-lengths from the tree-line of the woods, he found a metal-spike studded collar. It was half-hidden in a briar bush and soaked with blood. No Gang ever sent a scout back there again.

Tony shuddered, suddenly choking on a bone. She spat it out and wiped the mouse fur from his lips. Pushing away the small pile of bones (All that remained of his meager dinner), he lay his head on his paws. He wasn't going to go to the forest. Forget the wild-cats, there were foxes and badgers and snakes. If he had a Gang he would take them on, but a lone cat would die. Okay, new plan. Think think think. He knew there were huge farms and cozy barns beyond the wild-cat's forest home. But they were almost all occupied with cats, and Tony didn't know nor did he want to find out if they were as blood-thirsty as the forest cats.

He thought some more. There were big mountains beyond the farms and forests, no one he knew had known what lay in or beyond those jagged teeth of stone. Tony wasn't sure he wanted to go that far. Besides the fact that it would take moons to reach, there could also be foxes and badgers and raccoons and mountain lions, and-

Tony shook his head, not wanting to think about that anymore. His head was throbbing from pain and exhaustion and thirst He looked up at the sky. Threatening storm clouds gathered nearer to him, bunching up like thick bushes. Beyond that, the sky was becoming dark. If he stayed out much longer, the storm would hit and he would have to camp out. And the longer he stayed, the more easy it would be for Night to track him down.

Tony scratched earth over the remains of his mouse, making to dig deep to conceal the scent. Then he smoothed out the smashed weeds taht he had been laying on, putting them back as upright as he could. As an afterthought, he pulled up some steams of onion-grass, crushed them with his teeth, and spread the odorous herb across his weed patch, covering any traces of his scent that were left. With a purr of satisfaction he licked his paws, gave one last stretch, and set off towards the unknown.


	4. Chapter 4

**[Author's Note: Ello! I'm back with Chapter Four! I haven't updated since...Friday, right? So I figured I'd add another chapter to bump this back up to the front page and maybe get some more people to read it. Also, I'd like to give a shout-out to xXxGoldenwingxXx for the nice review! Thank you and I'm glad you like my story! Also, nice catch with Startail's name (I didn't even think anyone would read the allegiences, lol) but I'm going to keep it the way it is because in my slightly AU version of Warriors that this story is set in, 'Star' is allowed to be used in a name. Anyway, enjoy Chapter 4! Please please please read and review!]**

"Twigleaf." Reedfur ordered. "Make your report." He was sitting on one of the twisted branches that jutted from the fallen tree. It wasn't a comfortable place to sit, but it would be disrespectful to Stonestar to stand on the smooth middle of the log where his leader was positioned.

The brown tom stepped forward, his fur spiked and damp. Two other cats, Appletail and Fernwillow, scrambled after him. He took a breath and began.

"We checked all of the other side of the river, all the way up to the Gorge. No sign of her. Not even a whiff of scent or a tuft of fur. She's either trying incredibly hard to have us not find her, or she learned how to fly." He reported. Stonestar bristled.

"You didn't check hard enough!" He spat. "She's out there somewhere, obviously! Incompetent mouse-brains!" Reedfur bristled and leaped for Stonestar.

"Show respect." He hissed. "They did their best." Stonestar wheeled on him, hackles raised. He shot out a paw, slashing Reedfur's face. Reedfur stumbled, shocked. Even with seathed claws it had still been a stinging blow. The cats gasped in shock. Reedfur shook his head and sauntered back a few tail-lengths before sitting down. Stonestar, fur unruffled, acted as though nothing had happened and looked back at the cats.

"Reedfur belives," Stonestar began, saying the deputy's name bitterly. "That we should cease looking for Rainfeather. Does anyone else agree?" He snarled.

"Just for now," Reedfur said quickly. "A storm is coming and it's too cold to swim." Stonestar silenced him with a glare. Cats murmured and shuffled below the log. Finally they began to mew in approval, then yowl.

"Reedfur's plan is good!"

"I don't want to freeze to death swimming now!"

"No way I'm letting my kits swim in a storm!"

"Rainfeather's gone! Accept it!"

As the yowls died down, Reedfur glanced at Stonestar.

"The clan has spoken." He mewed evenly. Stonestar spat and growled and lashed his tail. He dug his claws into the wet bark.

"Of course you mouse-brains don't want her back." He hissed. "You were the one's that drove her off in the first place!"  
Cats screeched in protest, but Stonestar continued to rant. "You worthless mouse-dung accused her of disloyalty! You drove her away! Kicked her out! Fox-dung! Traitors! You mangy, flea-bitten rogues!" Stonestar paused and hunched over, bursting into a fit of hacking. Wheezing, he stumbled off the log and trotted towards the entrance to his den.

"I've said all I need to say." He rasped. He paused, coughed, and continued. He slid into the den and disappeared. Inside, loud coughs could be heard. Willowgale raced forward with a bundle of herbs in her jaws. She disappeared into his den. The clan stayed silent and frozen, watching the den.

Reedfur lashed his tail. "Off with you lot." He meowed to the clan. "Go on. This meeting is over. You all have things to do. The camp walls need to be reinforced to prevent flooding. Rocks need to be built up around the river banks. Dens need to be fixed. Prey needs to be stocked up. Move along!"

Slowly, muttering, the clan went off. Reedfur watched them go before bounding towards Stonestar's den. He squeezed through the entrance and slammed into Willowgale. Bits of plants fluttered up around them.

"Sorry." He meowed, helping her gather up the herbs, sneezing several times at their sickly sweet scent.

"Sorry. They're strong." She meowed. "Catmint and tansy. And coltsfoot."

"What's wrong with him?" Reedfur meowed, sneezing again before he handed the herbs to Willowgale.  
She shrugged. "I don't know. I'm hoping for just a cold, or even whitecough. But if he got greencough, in this weather, with the small amount of herbs I have, and with everyone sick..." She trailed off.

Reedfur felt the fur on his back prickle. "He could lose a life, couldn't he?" He whispered. Willowgale nodded.

Reedfur shot a nervous glance at his leader's den, then leaned in and whispered to Willowgale, "How many lives does he have left?"  
Willowgale looked at him sadly. "Only two. If greencough were to kill him twice... he'd be gone."

Reedfur nodded sadly. Despite his leader's recent behavior, he knew Stonestar was an honerable cat who was deeply loyal to his clan and his cats. He looked up to him more than the old tom would ever know. He still remembered the day he became deputy...

**[Author's Note: Ooooh, cliff-hanger. Sort of. I promise the next chapter will be long and I'll add it soon! Until next time, please review! Seeya! Love, ****_Sagethorn_****]**


	5. Chapter 5

**[Author's Note: Ello! I'm back! I apologize to my few (If any) fans who I have made wait waaay too long for this chapter. It took longer than I expected to write, and I got writer's block part of the way through. I'll try to never have this long of a wait between chapters again. I usually try to get up a chapter at least a chapter once per week, sometimes two if I'm in a good mood. Anyway, this chapter is Reedfur's flashback, if you remember the last sentence from the last chapter. Before I let you go to read, I'd like to give a quick shout-out to starstar412 for their incredibly nice review! Thank you for the encouragement and the reassurance that people do actually read my story. Okay, now please enjoy chapter 5!]**

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The day the first wail of sadness shook the camp was grey and rainy. As soon as the first cry was uttered, more joined it, as the clan knew that it could only mean one thing: Rippletooth had died.

Their deputy had been sick for days now. Sneezing, coughing, wheezing. The cold, damp weather did nothing to help, and the herb that the medicine cat, Mistytail, desperatly needed was catmint. But their only supply of catmint at the time could be found in a small patch growing in the forest, and unfortunatly, lightning had recently struck there, setting their meager supply on fire.

Rippletooth's sickness started out simply as a sneezing fit that would come over him every once and a while. He claimed it was just allergies and dismissed any cat's concerns. Then he started coughing. A hoarse, ragged cough that rattled in his throat. Again, he claimed that it was just a little cold from getting his paws wet. He allowed Mistytail to give him a few herbs for it, but he refused to rest in her den.

Then everyone noticed how he was becoming more lethargic. He could hardy run a tree-length without becoming short of breath. He would come back from patrols wheezing and coughing, even if they had barely gone halfway across their territory. He would go hunting only to return with barely any prey, unable to run down even a mouse for more than a few bounds.

Soon he could scarcely talk for too long without breaking out coughing. If he went for even a short walk, he would come back with a wheeze that wouldn't go away for hours. He slept often, and sometimes could barely drag himself out of bed.

At that point there was no denying his sickness. Mistytail made Stonestar force Rippletooth to stay in camp. She confined him to her den, and although he argued at first, soon he was too weak to protest.

The poor medicine cat used up her entire store of herbs on him, but for every bout of coughing she managed to cure, it would come back a few minutes later twice as strong. He developed a permenant wheeze, and his sneezing caused mucus to run down his face.

His nephew, Reedfur, was busy training his apprentice, Rubblepaw, so barely ever got to see his uncle. But one day, after Rubblepaw was confined to his den with a twisted paw he recieved during training, Reedfur went to see Rippletooth.

"Uncle?" He meowed, peering through the reeds of the medicine cat den.

"Hey, you!" He heard from the other side of the den. He turned to see the pale orange tabby medicine cat stalking over to him, her long tail kincked over her back in annoyance. "You, out of here. Your uncle needs rest without being disturbed by nosy young cats. Don't you have an apprentice you should be training?"

At that mention, a furry grey and white head popped out from a tangle of ivy. "You talking about me?" Willowgale, the apprentice medicine cat, meowed. She turned to Reedfur and grinned at him. He blushed at the pretty she-cat and waved his paw to her.

"No, Willowglae. Go back to sleep." Mistytail sighed. The head withdrew. The medicine cat turned back to Reedfur. "Well?" She snapped.

"Rubblepaw twisted his paw this morning, so I told him to rest." Reedfur meowed. "I thought I should see Rippletooth."

Mistytail frowned. "No." She said finally. "Rippletooth is sick, and he needs to rest to get better." He shuddered when he heard her voice crack at the end of her sentence.

"Let him in, Mistytail." Came a hoarse voice from the back of the den. Mistytail a nd Reedfur whipped around to see a skinny silver and black tom staring at them from a bed of moss. "Let me see my nephew."

"You need to rest." Mistytail said gruffly.

"I've been resting all morning. I'm awake now, and I wish to see Reedfur." Rippletooth snarled, breaking off into a ragged coughing fit. Mistytail stiffened.

"I don't want the disease to spread." She said.

"You know just as well as I do that being near me won't get him sick. Otherwise you and Willowgale would be coughing, too." Rippletooth snorted.

Mistytail opened her mouth to argue then snapped it shut. With a curt nod, she turned to Reedfur. "Five minutes." She snarled. "Then get out of here." She stalked away with a snap of her tail.

Reedfur padded tentivly over to his uncle and sat down in front of him. He looked over the deputy. His silver and black fur was still neat, obviously he had groomed it recently, probably to pass time, but it was dull and had lost its slick, lustrous look. His once powerfully muscled legs were thin and looked like they would snap like brittle twigs if he tried to walk. Still, his huge amber eyes had somehow managed to retain the sharp, focused look they always had.

"Hello, nephew." Rippletooth rumbled in a creaking voice.

"Rippletooth." Reedfur said, dipping his head respectfully. After his father's death when he was a kit, the strong-willed deputy had become Reedfur's advisor, sort of. It was Rippletooth who had taught him a hunter's crouch, who had shown him his first battle move, who had recued Reedfur, as an apprentice, from the jaws of a fox when he had jumped onto the fox's back on a dare. And it was Rippletooth who had swatted Reedfur, hard, after the rescue mission, and made sure he never did something that stupid again.

It pained Reedfur to see his Uncle, even if they had never been incredibly close, like this. He had never seen a cat this weak before, except for when his best friend got Greencough. But his best friend recovered. From the way the rest of the camp acted, it seemed like Rippletooth was already on the way to StarClan.

_What am I thinking?_ Reedfur though, appalled. This was Rippletooth he was talking about! The cat who had saved a kit from an eagle's nest at the top of a sycamore tree. The cat who had fought off a fox single-pawed. The cat who had led the attack mission and drove out a vicious band of rouges who had worn collars studded with metal spikes. The cat who had practically led the clan for a quarter-moon when Swishstar had been mauled by a badger and lost a life. Of course he would recover!

"Reedfur?" A raspy voice broke the young warrior out of his thoughts.

"Sorry." Reedfur apologized, dipping his head. "I zoned out."

"You always did have a head full of fluff." Rippletooth said sarcastically, but his voice broke off into a cough at the end. He continued coughing raspily, and Reedfur saw, to his horror, a bead of blood run down from the corner of the deupty's mouth. Mistytail had never said he was coughing up blood. What else had the mecicine cat kept vague?

Rippletooth had gotten his breath back and swiped away the drop of blood like it was nothing. "So," The deputy said, struggling to keep a strong voice. "Who is taking my place?"

"Wh-what?" Reedfur meowed, startled. "No one!"

"Don't act stupid, Reedfur." Rippletooth snarled. "Who is standing in for me as deputy? I doubt the clan has spent the entire time I've been ill without someone to organize patrols. Who?"

"A-Applefang," Reedfur stammered, the bead of blood burned into his mind. He shook his head to clear it. "Yeah, Applefang."

Rippletooth chuckled raspily. "That chubby brown tabby?" He said good-naturedly. Applefang wasn't really chubby, she was just a very large-boned cat, stocky and muscular, and incredibly powerful. Anyone who got into a scrap with her didn't come out un-bloddied.

"Yeah, her." Reedfur said, feeling a small flutter of hope at the lightness in the deputy's tone and the light in his eyes.

"Ah, I remember her." Rippletooth said. He rolled onto his back and placed his paws on his skinny stomach, looking lost in memories. "I kissed her behind the big oak tree back when we were apprentices. I did it on a dare."

"What did she do to you?" Reedfur asked, appalled but amused.

"Kissed me back, at first. She can be surprisingly gentle at times. Almost made me want to kiss her again, for real. She was all moony to me for the next quarter-moon. It was really akward. But when she found out I only kissed her on a dare from Slickpelt, man you should have seen how fast we ran." Rippletooth let out a cackling chuckle. "We climbed the oak tree like there was no tomorrow and didn't come down for a full day and night. And Applefang kept guard at the bottom of the tree the whole time, spitting insults at us that Dark Forest knows where she learned them. We finally made a truce and she let us climb down. Our poor mentors were so confused when we explained that we'd missed training because we were hiding in a tree."

Reedfur laughed for real, and his uncle's laughter followed. The bubble of hope in Reedfur's chest expanded. Here was Rippletooth laughing, talking without much of a rasp, not coughing even once.

_He'll get better._ Reedfur told himself. _He'll get better._

But then Rippletooth broke off, coughing hard. Another trickle of blood ran down from his lips. Reedfur's jaw snapped shut in horror, and the deupty continued to struggle for breath.

Mistytail shot in front her sleeping den, her blue eyes hard. A mouthful of herbs was bundled in her mouth.

"Out!" She mumbled around the leaves. "Out! Out! Your five minutes are up! Let your uncle rest!"

Reedfur nodded meekly and slunk out of the den. From behind him, he heard Mistytail shouting, "Willowgale! Get some water, stat!"

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The next day, before the sun had even began to rise and bath the shadowy camp in light, Reedfur heard the firt cry of anguish. A claw stabbed through his heart, ebcause he knew the cry, and the ones that quickly followed, could only mean one thing: Rippletooth had died. Pulling his head off his damp, mossy nest, Reedfur tipped his chin up and added to to howls that were resounding through the camp.

The vigil was somber, sad, and wet. Rain fell steadily through the entire day as Rippletooth's thin body lay stretched out in the center of camp, until the deupty and every cat sitting around him was soaked to their skin. After his brief training session with Rubblepaw, Reedfur sat with them for most of the day, shivering from the freezing rain, shadowed by the dark rain clouds that coated the sky.

Then, as the endless day wore on and on with no end in sight, the sun finally began to set, bathing the mourning camp in soft grey shadows. Then, fianlly, from the hollwo in the log where he had been resting, and probably planning what he would say to the grieving camp, the sleek form of their leader slid out and hopped onto the sodden fallen tree.

Stonestar raised his head to the sky, which was still leaking soft rain, like the sky was crying. Several drops caught him on the face and rolled down his cheeks, and he stayed like that for a few minutes before turning back to the clan, who had turned their heads up to look at their leader.

"Warriors, apprentices, queens, kits, and elders of RiverClan." Stonestar said in a voice that wobbled unsteadily at first, but then evened out roughly. "The time has come. I wish for a little longer, but I will honor the Warrior Code like a proper leader should." He tipped his head up again. "It is almost moonhigh."

Several cats moaned in anguish. One she-cat cried out in anguish from the crowd, "It's too soon, Stonestar!"

"What's going on?" Reedfur's ever-perky apprentice mewed from behind him, where he had been sitting vigil for the past hour respectfully, but was beginning to get antsy.

"Hush, haven't you been taught the Warrior Code yet?" Reedfur hissed, annoyed at the interruption.

Rubblepaw paused for a moment, then meowed akwardly, "_You're_ my mentor, and _you_ haven't taught me yet, so no."

Reedfur blushed. "Oh," He mumbled. "Well, that's the next lesson. Now hush up and watch your leader!" He cuffed his apprentice behind the ear, a bit more roughly than the little cat deserved. Rubblepaw squeaked in pain and whimpered, his lip quivering, but Reedfur couldn't bring himself to apologize at the moment. Stonestar was talking again.

"RiverClan, the time has come. Our ancestors have come out to witness my choosing." The grey leader meowed, staring up at the sky, where the clouds were parting to reveal several stars shining dully in the sky. He looked back down at the clan. "Let them aprove of what I am about to do."

The clan murmured and shifted, casting glances back and forth. Several cats had tears running down their faces and were looking back at Rippletooth's body.

"Applefang," Stonestar meowed. The she-cat looked out, green eyes wide. "I, and the rest of the clan, thank you again and again for your service while our deputy was ill. But as the time comes to choose another, I wish to keep you, a brave and strong cat, with the ranks of the Warriors, where your talents will best be used to serve your clan in hunting and fighting. I am also moving you to the ranks of the senior warriors, which you have earned, and if an instance like this ever comes up again, you will be the first I turn to. Thank you for your devotion to your clan, and may you continued to serve it as a noble Warrior."

The clan murmured their thanks and soft congradulations to Applefang, who dipped her head in respect, but Reedfur saw the tiniest hint of disappointment in her glowing green eyes.

Stonestar turned back to the cats. "And now, with the power invested in me as leader of RiverClan, I take this time to name the new deputy. I say these words in front of the body of my loyal-to-the-end deputy, Rippletooth, so his spirit, and the rest of StarClan, may hear and aprove of my choice."

He took a shaking breath, and turned his moonlit yellow eyes to the crowd.

"I name Reedfur the deputy of RiverClan."

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Silence, that's what followed. Total silence. The only sound was the night crickets singing softly in the weeds. Then, out of the silence, one lone voice,

"Reedfur! Reedfur!"

Reedfur recognized the high-pitched voice. _Rubblepaw!_ He thought with a wince. _Shut up! You choose now to be okay with public speaking?_

Reedfur turned slightly to see out of the corner of his eyes his usually somewhat shy apprentice bouncing up and down with excitment, blue eyes wide, cheering his mentor's name with pride.

"Reedfur! Reedfur!"

Reedfur was going to turn and cuff his embarsssing apprentice so hard his ears would ring, but then realized that the chant did not belong to just Rubblepaw.

"Reedfur! Reedfur!"

And then he realized that he couldn't hear Rubblepaw's softer voice at all anymore. Instead, he heard a chant that resounded with the voices of many. As he turned to look at his clan, he saw their mouth's open and close as they yowled their approval to their new deputy. Several reluctant cat's mouths stayed shut, but they didn't matter. Pride swelled in Reedfur's chest.

"Come to the fallen tree, Reedfur." He heard Stonestar's gentle voice thread through the howls. Reedfur, who had momentarilly forgotten how to move. felt his legs unlock and h bounded for the fallen log. His legs tangled up with themselves, and he ended up on his face, in front of the tree. He, to his embarassment, heard several laughs from the crowd.

He scrambled to his feet and launched hismelf at the fallen log. _I've never been up here before!_ He thought with glee.

Almost immediatly, though, he realized that never having learned to walk on the log before was not an advantage, especially as it was now wet, and as soon as his paws hit the wood he felt them shoot out from under him. He yelped as his chin smashed against the tree before he slipped off and smacked onto the ground.

More laughs resounded through the chants of his name, louder and more jeering. Shamed tears flooded Reedfur's eyes as he turned his head up and struggled to his feet. His vision swirled around him, he tasted blood in his mouth, and he looked around desperatly for the leader so he could attempt to jump up next to him again, but his head pounded in his ears, and he coudln't see right.

Then he felt sharp digs in his scruff, and was being pulled, with effort into the air and being dragged up the slippery wood of the log. The teeth in his scruff dug harded as Stonestar hauled him up the last few inches.

_So this is how my deputy ceremony goes! Being pulled up onto the fallen log by my scruff like a kitten!_ The tears in his eyes flooded over and rolled down his cheeks in waves. He whimpered unintentionally, and hoped no one could hear him over the chanting, which was, thankfully, still going on.

Reedfur didn't realize Stonestar had put him down on the log until he herad his leader start talking again.

"-Reedfur has proven himself to be a loyal and tireless warrior who hunts well.."

_Except all those times I fell in the river!_ Reedfur thought bitterly.

"..fights exceptionally..."

_Except all those times I take on cats bigger than me and get my tail kicked!_

"...and is in the middle of training an apprentice who is growing into a fine young cat..."

_Except the fact that he's too slow to hunt, falls on his face in battle practice, and can't ever act somber or even remotly serious to save his life!_

"...no matter what doubts you have, I know that Reedfur will be a great deputy and will serve his clan loyaly without question." Stonestar finished.

Reedfur looked down at himself in a small puddle in a rut in the log. _He's trying to convice them I'll be a brave and loyal deputy?_ Reedfur thought. _Ha!_ No wonder the cat's chanting was slowing slightly. What kind of barve and loyal deputy sat on the log hunched over, his fur plastered to his overly-bony frame with rain and mud, tears running down his face, snot dripping from his nose, and blood running from his mouth from his bitten tongue.

_I can't do this._ He thought. _I can't!_

_Shut up!_ Another part of him screamed. _You're not getting out of this, so lift your head and adress your clan like a warrior, not like a whimpering kit who just lost a game of moss-ball!_

Reedfur tore his head up from the ground and stared up at his clan reluctantly. Their faces flashed with pity for him, which made him want to cry harder. Instead he swallowed until he could breathe again and opened his mouth to speak.

"I accept my duty as deputy of RiverClan." He meowed.

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**[Author's Note: Whew! That chapter only took forever to write. I am never writing a chapter that long again. Man, I was _mean_ to Reedfur in this chapter. Poor guy. Don't worry, it gets ever worse for him in the next chapter! :D Anyway, the next chapter will sort of finish up Reedfur's flashback, it'll have a little conversation between Reedfur and Willowgale, and then we'll (Finally) get to meet our second main character. Until next time, ta-ta! P.S: Please review!]**


	6. Chapter 6

**[Author's Note: I'm sorrrrryyyyy guys! I know, I know, I promised an update per week. I'm sorry. School has been a little insane lately, so I've been distracted. Anyway, this was originally supposed to be a much longer chapter, but I decided to cut out the parts about Reedfur because they really have no impact on the actual plot of the story. So now it's just a little chapter of the first appearance of our second main character! Yeah! Before I let you go to read, I'm gonna give a shoutout to Snowsong of Snowclan for her chapter-by-chapter reviews! Thank you and I'm glad you like my story! Anyway, as always, please read and review!]**

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A tawny she-cat hurtled through the long, moist grass of a field of honey-colored grass. Her small but powerful paws propelled her forward with graceful ease, her claws barely skimming the ground as she tore across the plain.

She was racing. Racing the storm. You're not catching up to me. She silently jeered at the very quickly approaching storm clouds. She could already see, looking behind her, rain starting to fall far off. But it wouldn't catch up to her. She had had a head start and was making good pace. _Ha!_

It was a ridiculous competition and a waste of energy, trying to evade the storm. It would catch her eventually. She could skim along for a little while, avoiding the raindrops on her fur, but nature would win. It was maybe the one thing she couldn't run from.

_Yeah, but I can try._ She needed something else to rebel against, something else to take out he unmeasurable fury on. She had already done that earlier, to her clan, before sunrise. Slipped off without notice, without being questioned. Idiots.

But it wasn't enough. So the storm was now on the receiving end of the rebellious she-cat's bitter anger. It wasn't going to touch her with a raindrop, or it would regret it. So she continued to tear through the land, through the beautiful golden field and out onto a greener plain, dotted with sweet-smelling wildflowers, which bobbed their colorful heads in greeting at her. But the gorgeous scenery around her didn't even get a backwards glance of aknowledgement. Tough luck, flowers.

For a while, StarClan-knows-how-long, she was running on sheer adrenaline. She didn't feel the slightest tightening in her throat, the faintest pain in her lungs, the tiniest twinge of pain in her paws. She ran on energy like electricity coursing through her body, keeping her legs pumping and her blood flowing with each spark.

Until she tripped over a root.

It caught under her paw and pinned it there while she was in mid-stride. There was a sharp jerking sensation that was completely unexpected after running smoothly for so long, and suddenly she was wrenched off the ground, legs still flailing, and flung down, hard, on her face. She felt something snap in her ankle, more of a jolt than actual pain, and heard a sickening popping sound. She pulled her paw free and pressed it under her quickly.  
She lay there for a moment, only able to breath in and out, which suddenly felt painful in her lungs. The sky swirled above her blurrily, and the grass tickled against her face. Shock wore off, and a pain shot through her paw. With a gasp, she pulled it out and held it up, sucking in a breath and looking down at it.

It wasn't as bad as she was expecting. It wasn't bent backwards or splayed out freakishly or spurting blood. She held out her other paw next to it for comparison. To her dismay, the one she had caught was swollen almost twice as large as the first one, and, when she tried, she realized she was unable to sheathe her claws.

Finally getting her bearings and turning around, she groaned. Pineland Peaks, the mountains that bordered the territories she had just left, still loomed closer than she would have liked. She hadn't made nearly as much progress as she should have by now. A patrol was probably hot on her tail. Not to mention the increasingly violent looking storm clouds were bunching closer to her. She heard a growl of thunder from far off, and then an explosion of lightning that lit up the whole sky for miles and made every hair on her pelt stand on end.

She scrambled to her feet and took a few three-legged steps forward. Finally, tentivly, she placed her paw lightly on the ground. She was surprised and pleased at the very miniscule amount of pain it caused. Bunching her haunches under her, she leaped forward and began to sprint again.

She froze in her tracks almost immediatly and struggled not to sink to her knees. Lifting her paw off the ground, she began to spit out a chorus of swears.

"OW! Dark Forest, that hurts! Rowr! Great StarClan-" She held up her paw, which felt as through a fire were smoldering under her skin, licking at every nerve ending in her paw with heat like lightning. She staggered a few steps, waving the paw through the cool damp air, as if in an attempt to put out the flames raking through her leg.

Another crack of thunder sounded, seeming to be a mile closer than it had been. She turned and stared up at the sky uneasily. The clouds, now as black as night, were rolling closer with the speed and menace of a Twoleg Monster. Another wave of anger roiled through her. At the storm, at her paw, at her clan, at the fact that she had stopped, at every single thing on the planet at the moment.

"Go to the Dark Forest, storm. I don't give a mousetail about this paw. I'm still going, do you understand me?!" She turned her head and screamed at the sky. Ramming her feet under her, she started off again, moving at a lop-sided gallop, slowly trying to build up speed and managing to go about half as fast as before.

Fire licked at her paw pads at every step. Her claws were wrenched painfully everytime they touched the ground, and she couldn't sheathe them. She bit her lip until she tasted blood and struggled not to cry.

No stopping, no turning back. Not now, not ever.

One paw after another, she made her way across the landscape that burned under her feet. One breath after another, though it stung like swallowing smoke, she kept going. Away from her home.

Away from the storm.

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**[Author's Note: Okay, I know, I know! That wasn't worth a two week wait! Please don't hate me, and I'm sorry if I made anyone think I abandoned my story. I promise I won't abandon this thing until it's finished. Anyway, I hope this was an OK chapter. I know it was pretty short, but shorter chapters means I can update faster. And the reason I cut out Reedfur's part was because I decided to write a little spin-off fanfic about him, because I really like his character. IDK what it'll be called yet. Don't worry, I won't let it distract me from writing this. Anyway, as usual, read and review! Seriously, people, pretty please review! Reviews make me happy, and when I'm happy I tend to update faster. Anyway, ciao for now! -Sagethorn]**


	7. Chapter 7

**[Author's Note: Happy New Years! Yeah, yeah. Late update. I spent most of the Holidays without access to a computer, so sorry. Anyway, Chapter 7! And to DuckShadow12517, YellowMudkip11, and Guest, thank you guys so much for your reviews, favorites, and follows. Thanks for keeping my faith in my writing. Enjoy Chapter 7!]**

Tony woke up, blinking tiredly. The world swirled around him fuzzily, and it took him a few blinks to get it to focus. He pulled himself up into a sitting position and looked around in confusion.

"When did I fall asleep?" He murmured to himself. He glanced up at the sky. It was darker than he had last remember, the storm clouds bunching together into a dark black mass. "That's gonna be one heckuva storm." He mumbled, and as he spoke, a rain drop broke free and landed on his nose.

He got to his feet and looked around at his surroundings. He was in a field, dense with a plant that appeared to be wheat. An old gnarled tree grew next to him. Far away in the distance he could see an old abandoned farmhouse, which looked like the same one he had passed not that long ago.

He glanced down in confusion. A small tree branch lay, splintered, next to one of his paws. He rolled it over with one paw and saw a splatter of blood smeared across the rough wood.

He sucked in his breath sharply and, tenderly, reached up a paw and touched it to the top of his head. He pulled it down and stared at the scarlet smudge staining his dark brown fur.

"Oh," He murmured, letting out his breath slowly. Bits of what had happened filtered in, like a dream that was suddenly being remembered. Stopping to catch his breath under the tree. The wind beginning to gust fiercely. Hearing a cracking sound. Looking up. Sharp pain. Then nothing.

He cursed himself and kicked the branch away. How long had he been out for? Fifteen minutes? Half an hour? An hour? Long enough for Night, if he was tracking him (Of course he was), to get a head start. Night could be only a few feet away, waiting to pounce and tear out Tony's organs.

The revelation caused energy to spike through his veins once more. He bunched his haunches under him and took off once again through the field.

A few seconds later he was stretched out on his side on the ground, watching the sky spin dizzily above him. He staggered to his feet and groaned. There was a hot pulsing sensation in his head, pounding against the sides of his skull and making his ears ring. His leg, the one he was pretty sure was broken, felt like a knife was buried in it. He slumped back down.

And immediately staggered back up again. "No, no, I can't stay here." He mumbled to himself, taking a few uneasy steps forward, keeping his weight off his one leg. His head throbbed but it wasn't unbearable. "Okay, I'm going slow." He said through gritted teeth, and began to wobble unsteadily through the brittle wheat stalks.

He had gone a few yards forward when he felt another raindrop on the top of his head. Two more caught him on his back. He glanced up at the sky, wincing as his head pounded at the sudden movement. Another raindrop landed just above his eye.

"Foxdung." He cursed. He glanced around quickly for some kind of shelter. The world blurred slightly and his head was splintering, but he manged to make out a thick clump of trees surrounding a sheer cliff-like area. It looked a mile or two off.

"Okay, I'm going there." He growled. He continued to push forward doggedly, grimacing but propelling himself along nonetheless, his one leg dragging behind like a piece of wood. Thirst burned against his throat at the hot, humid air. The will to survive kept him moving along at as fast as he could.

Running away from the storm.

And to think this day started out so well...

**~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~**

"Hey Tony, wake up!"

Tony mumbled and shifted in his nest inside an old tipped-over Twoleg cupboard. He pulled one paw over his eyes.

"GetupGetupGetupGetup!"

Tony stretched out one paw and batted it sharply at whatever cat had been assigned as a Waker that morning. His paw caught against fur.

"Ouch!"

Tony blinked his eyes open and stared at Rain, who was rubbing the side of his cheek resentfully. "Foxdung! What was that for?"

"Goway." Tony mumbled, laying his head back down.

"No. You have to go patrol the trash heap. Night said." Rain persisted, jabbing Tony with his paw.

"Yeah? Well, Night can go-"

"JUST GET UP."

Tony raised his head in irritation and watched Rain stalking away, lashing his thickly furred tail. The brown tabby stretched his legs out as far as they would go and yawned hugely.

He stepped delicately out of the cupboard and slammed the door behind him with his hind foot. He stretched his claws and yawned again. He gave one paw a quick lick and smoothed it over the fur on the top of his head.

He hopped lightly up onto a small tower of crumbling cinder blocks and surveyed the camp. Night was balanced atop the huge brick pile, smiling smugly down at the rest of the Gang and basking in his air of self-importance. Sky was yawning and sharpening her claws on the post of the old Twoleg bed. Fire and Stream were both basking tiredly in a small patch of early-morning sunlight. Fire was hitting on Stream and getting whacked in the head in response.

Rain was attempting to wake up Billy, who was sprawled out across a piece of plywood, and getting growled at for his efforts. Icy was sliding quietly out of her sleeping place in the hollow of a large cinderblock, yawning and stretching her wickedly long claws. Mary was scrambling down from the gnarled, dead tree that she slept in a hollow in.

Tony glanced down at an old wooden Twoleg cupboard in the center of the clearing, where prey, when it was available, was sometimes stacked in the bototm drawer. To his delight he saw a large rat tossed haphazardly in.

Tony leaped down from the cinder blocks and began to pad quietly over to the prey, casting quick glances at his Gang-mates in case they decided to make a dive for the rat. They may live together, but that wouldn't stop them from getting into a claw-fight over the last piece of food if it came down to it.

He slunk quietly until he was a few feet away, then sprang, reaching the drawer in a few bounds. He raised his hackles slightly to show any hopeful onlookers that the rat was _his_, and reached quickly in so he could grab his prize and run off somewhere to eat it.

His jaw closed on empty air. started, he pulled back and stared dumbfounded at the smooth, empty wood. He turned his head to see a large brown she-cat slinking off with his prey in her mouth.

Flattening his ears, he leaped after her. He sprang over the she-cat and landed neatly in front of her. He sat down and curled his tail around his paws, blinking at her appealingly. She rolled her eyes and attempted to side-step him.

He moved back in her way. "Mary," He said in a silky voice. "Care to share a piece of prey with me sometime?"

Mary, her lips turning slightly in one of her rare smiles, played along. "Sure, sweetie. What time?" She again tried to slip around him.

"How about right now?" He purred, stepping neatly in front of her. "Look, we've got food right here. I had picked it out earlier, but you got here first. How sweet." He tried to hook the rat out of her mouth with his claws.

She doggedly neatly for all her bulk. "Sorry, love, I've got plans at the moment." She sprang around him and padded off before he could block her again. She turned over her shoulder and winked. "Call me sometime, though."

Tony snarled in irritation and stalked off with his tail bushed.

Night intercepted him when he was halfway across the clearing. The black tom landed right in front of Tony and sat down, licking one paw casually. His lips were lifted in a smirk.

"Sorry your date didn't work out. How about you go patrol the trash heap while you get over it?" Night's emerald-green eyes were amused.

Tony growled under his breath. No running off to get out of duties today. "Sure, Night, why not." Tony said, sidestepping the black tom and heading off for his designated patrol area. "I don't have anything better to do."

It didn't take him long to reach the trash heap; it was the center of their territory, the place every cat in the Gang knew best. It was also their main food supply. It was crawling with rats, mice, and even the occasional vole.

It needed heavy guarding, however. The trash drew in all sorts of unsavory creatures, snakes and weasels and even the rare fox or two. Plus other Gangs were constantly trying to sneak in to grab a rat or two when their own territory ran low on prey. Tony couldn't count on all of his claws the number of bloody battles over that small lump of garbage.

He reached the thick weedy area surrounding the trash heap. The plants around it were sticky and curled, and no one would think of chewing on any of them. The entire area had a rank, sticky, smoky scent.

Tony's head peered through a patch of long yellow-ish grass. The trash heap stood before him in all its glory. It was more like three large piles of garbage collapsing in on each other. Broken bits of furniture, heaps of splitting-open trash bags, mounds of compost and old bits of food. A slight, pale smoke belched out from the heap and into the sky.

Tony spotted a movement along the edge of one of the piles, and a small silver rat crept out from behind a tin can. It sat down and began to nibble a hunk of some sort of food, totally oblivious to the tabby in the bushes.

Tony licked his lips slowly and began to ease forward, sliding one paw after another across the spongy ground. He got within five feet of the rat, who was still cheerfully nibbling away, before he sprang. He clapped the rat in his paws and bit down, hard. The rat's neck splintered and it fell limp instantly, its warm blood flooding Tony's mouth with a salty tang.

The hunting in the trash heap was almost unfairly easy because the overwhelming fumes from the mounds of rotting garbage caused the nose of any creature to close up when they came within fifty feet of the place. No way to scent an enemy. No way to scent prey, either, but that was okay, because rats often let themselves out into plain sight. Overly confident little creatures. No need to scent them.

But, as mentioned, there was also no way to scent an enemy, and that was why Tony, who was licking the blood off his paws on one side of the heap, didn't notice the Gang Of Fangs patrol around the other side, who were celebrating over their haul of food.

"Great catch, Willow!" Lemon, a light golden tabby tom, praised his Gangmate.

The grey tabby purred and prodded the dead rat. "Thanks. It was nothing. This place is crawling with these things. You practically step on them just walking around!"

"I cauft twoo uf dem!" Lime, another light golden tabby, mumbled around two fat rats dangling from his jaws.

"Thistle was right, we should come here more often." Splash, a light cream-colored she-cat, purred with delight as she pawed at her dead shrew, licking her lips. "We could feed the Gang for a week with this haul."

The patrol kept their voices low, and with their scent masked neatly by the stench of garbage, Tony never even noticed them as he nibbled on his breakfast rat. And he probably never would have noticed them at all, if the grey tabby named Willow hadn't suddenly felt an itch in her nose.

"Ah...ah..ahh.." Willow sniffed as the steamy smoke from the garbage suddenly made her nostrils tingle. "ATCHOO!" She sneezed loudly, stumbling backwards into a pile of trash and sending bits of it clattering noisily down the heap.

Tony's ears swiveled in the direction of a smashing sound. _Trash tumbling down the heap._ He thought, swallowing a mouthful of his rat. Nevertheless he looked up, his ears now pricked in alertness.

"Shh!" The golden tabby named Lemon hissed around the other side of the trash heap. "Keep it down!"

"Sorry, sorry. It's just the dust in this place-" Willow began as she shook bits of garbage from her pelt. She froze suddenly, sucking in her breath sharply. "Ah...Ah...AH-CHOO!"

This time Tony heard the she-cat sneeze. His ears swiveled instantly towards the direction of the trespassers. He gulped down the last bit of rat and lowered himself into a stalking position, growling softly. He began to ease forward slowly.

Around the other side of the trash heap, Lime slapped a paw over Willow's mouth before she sneezed again. "Shush! Can you hear that?" His ears were pricked in alarm, and he began to slide slowly towards the edge of the garbage pile, lips peeled back in a snarl.

He and Tony circled the heap at the exact same time, and ended up face-to-face, their noses almost touching. Both jumped almost out of their skin and scrambled back several paces, panting.

Tony recovered first. "Intruders!" He spat, hackles up.

The other tom recovered quickly afterwards. "Run!" He screeched, and scrambled back to join his patrol, who were all beginning to back away slowly.

"What are you doing here?" Tony snarled, claws out, walking after them with his fur bushed out aggressively. He sniffed deeply, although their scent was faint under the overwhelming smell of the trash heap. "You're the Gang Of Fangs, correct?"

The she-cat Splash, who looked to young to know better, nodded slightly.

Lemon, who appeared to be the leader of the patrol, stepped forward stiffly. "That is none of your concern. We're leaving." His voice was hard and thick with attempted authority.

"You were stealing prey!" Tony yowled, spotting the tail of a rat peeking out from behind Willow's paw.

Lime stepped up next to Lemon and growled at Tony. "Four against one. Let us leave." His voice was pleafullness smothered in threat.

Tony looked them up and down, judging them, gauging them, as he was trained to. Four of them. Huddled together in fright and to hide their prey. Which makes them an easier target for attack than if they were spread out.

He looked each individual cat up and down. Willow and Splash were both young cats. Tony blinked. Very young. Willow seemed only about 8 moons old, soft kitten fur still framing her face. Splash was maybe a moon or two older. Lemon and Lime (Obviously related) couldn't be far past a year old.

A patrol of underage, undertrained, overly confident cats. All had their hackles up, and he knew if he attacked them they would attack back, and they didn't seem like the type that were going to give up quickly (Oh course not, this was the Gang Of Fangs he was talking about).

Tony would end up in a fight that he knew he would win. Of course he would. It was him, a high-ranking Gang member with two years of training, versus four youngsters with minimal training at the very least.

He would beat them, but he would have to spill the blood of cats who were barely past being kits. And he would have to spill alot of their blood. The Gang Of Fangs were never ones to surrender in battle unless they were practically mortally wounded.

Oh God, he was going to have to mortally wound kits.

"Get out." Tony growled at them suddenly. He swiped a paw at them sharply, snarling. "Get out of here, now, or I'll tear your pelts off and feed them to the rats!" _No, I won't._

The patrol scattered so fast it was mind-blowing. One minute they were there, staring at him with huge eyes, and the next four streaks of fur disappeared into the foliage, taking most of the prey that had caught with them.

Tony pawed the prey they had left behind. A rat and a shrew, forgotten in the rush to leave. He picked up the bodies in his jaws and bit down until blood began to flow from the dead prey. Hopefully it would disguise any scent of the patrol, although it was hardly detectable anyway.

He began to head home, the prey he would say he had 'caught' swinging from his jaws. He didn't notice a grey and white cat balanced neatly in the branches of an old oak tree, watching him with narrow green eyes.

Tony got back to base quickly, moving at a trotting pace. He stepped into the crumbling Twoleg house and laid his prey down in the drawer. Fire padded over from where he had been lazing in the sun and peered down at the prey.

"Did you need to mangle them?" He said in distaste, staring at the bloodied rodents, punctured with teeth holes. He selected the shrew and padded off to eat it in peace.

Tony headed over to the huge pile of bricks in the center of the place and stretched out across a few of the sun-warmed red rocks, yawning hugely and laying down to relax. He peered over to where Night was talking softly to Sky under the shade of an overhanging piece of wood. Tony closed his eyes sleepily for a moment and didn't see Sky motion over at him.

The brown tabby opened his eyes at the sound of footsteps coming closer. Night, tail curled over his back, was stalking towards him. His yellow eyes were shadowed. Sky was following, light green eyes sharp as knives. Fire, across camp, raised his head curiously.

"Tony," Night said in a voice he usually used to address trespassers or enemies. "We need to have a talk." There was a streak of black as the tom hurled himself at Tony, and overheard thunder crashed.

**[Author's Note: We're back to good ol' Tony in this chapter. I liked writing about his life in the Gang, maybe I can do a spin-off fanfic about that, too. Anyway, in case you haven't been able to tell, this story relies heavily on flashbacks. Sorry if that's starting to annoy people. Anyway, we'll get back to Rainfeather in the next chapter, which will be put up very soon. Read and review! Ciao for now! **_**-Sagethorn**_**]**


	8. Chapter 8

** [Author's Note: Well, guys, this chapter would have been up three days ago but my idiot of a stepbrother shut down the computer before I had a chance to save the document, therefore deleting everything I had just written, and I had to rewrite the **_**entire fricking chapter.**_** So, yeah, the usual. Many thanks to the people who reviewed and please enjoy chapter 8!]**

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Rainfeather stopped, panting, in the shelter of a hollow log. She lay down and stretched her injured paw out. It was swollen and pulsated heat, and stung just laying against the cool wood.

She hadn't wanted to take a break, but she had run for so long without stopping that her lungs felt like they were being clawed apart at each breath, so she figured a rest break to catch her breath wouldn't be the worst idea ever.

Actually, now that she was lying down in the cool, moist shade of the hollow log, she wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and sleep for a moon and a half.

The place she had chosen was along the edge of a cliff, which left about a ten-foot wide patch of land before it dropped off into a steep hillside. A few scrubby trees and bushes grew in the small scrap of land, and Rainfeather enjoyed it. Cool, closed off, solitary, peaceful.

Thunder cracked like a falling tree, making the ground under the log give a small shudder. Rainfeather flinched slightly and shuffled farther into the log, dragging her injured paw after her, useless as a stone taped to the end of her leg.

She didn't even know where she was at the moment. Pineland Peaks were still visible, but not as recognizable anymore. The towering mountains were just tall purple shapes rising out of the background, and the snow capping their peaks was just white smudges at their tips.

Lightning lit up the sky in an enormous burst of light, illuminating everything in intense whiteness. Almost immediately after, another clap of thunder sent a sharp tremour though the ground. Rainfeather gripped the soft wood of the log in her claws and let out a breath slowly.

She heard a small _tap_ rattle against the top of her makeshift den. Then another tap, quickly followed by two more. She slid her head out and looked up. Almost instantly, a large drop of water caught her just above one of her pale green eyes. It rolled down the side of her face, slicking a wet trail on her thin tawny-colored fur.

She pulled her head back in a curled up into as tight a ball as she could. At least this storm would hold back any search patrols. RiverClan would never send out cats in a storm like this. Her precious clan claimed they were fish but couldn't handle a bit of rainwater.

For the first time that day, she sent a silent prayer to StarClan, thanking them for this excellent cover. When this storm came full force it would obliterate the river. Her clan would probably have to evacuate camp, and they would be so preoccupied they wouldn't have time to send a patrol after her until the flooding went down.

Rainfeather wasn't much worried about flooding. Unlike the rest of her clan, she didn't need to be within sight of water at all times or she'd have a nervous breakdown. She would prefer to be near a place to swim and drink easily, especially in this thick, humid weather, but she valued her life more. She was keeping as far away from rivers and streams as she could. She wasn't going to be caught in one when it started pouring.

Thunder and lightning exploded through the sky again, rocking the log and sending another splash of raindrops down on the small grove. Rainfeather tucked herself into the back of the den and sighed.

And to think this day had started out so well...

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

"Rainfeather!" A voice hissed into her dream of chasing a butterfly through a field of purple wildflowers.

Rainfeather groaned and wrapped a tawny paw over her face.

"Rainfeather, wake up!"

Rainfeather sighed and, without opening her eyes, growled out, "What?"

"Dawn patrol." The voice responded.

Rainfeather made a gurgling noise in her throat and flopped over like a dead fish, curling both paws over her head and laying still.

A paw jabbed her shoulder roughly. "You still need to wake up."

"Mm sleepin'. Goway." Rainfeather groaned.

Tow paws slammed firmly into her shoulder, shaking her hard. "Get up!"

Rainfeather opened one dusky green eyes and peered up at the small ginger tabby standing over her.

"Good morning!" Fernwillow chirped.

"Hate you." Rainfeather growled, opening her other eyes and starting to drag herself into a sitting position.

"Love you too. Now hurry up. We need to head out on patrol." Fernwillow hopped from foot to foot.

"Who's coming with?" Rainfeather inquired, beginning to groom herself, starting with her skinny tail.

"Appletail aaannndd..." Fernwillow paused, trying to remember the other cat. "Hayfur." She finished finally.

"Great." Rainfeather muttered, drawing her tongue across one of her paws. "Patrol with the two biggest mousebrains in this clan."

"Oh, c'mon, you like Hayfur." Fernwillow smirked, amber eyes glittering.

"No, I don't." Rainfeather practically snarled, running her tongue a few times over her soft chest fur.

"Yes."

"Nope."

"Yeesssss."

"NO!"

"Will you kits shut up!" Came an irritated spit from the back of the den. Rainfeather and Fernwillow's ears flattened in embarrassment as cats raised their heads all around the den, eyes narrowed in irritation at this rude awakening.

"C'mon," Fernwillow hissed under her breath, and the two cats slouched out of the den quietly.

Rainfeather stared in distaste at the sky, which was still a smokey-grey color, streaks of milky rose just barely peeking over the edge of the horizon. Early birds, irritatingly happy at such an hour, chirped away at each other in the branches of the few trees that grew on the island.

"I'll be back in a minute." Fernwillow meowed, turning to pad away.

"Where are you going?" Rainfeather protested.

"Medicine cat den." Fernwillow responded. She raised one paw and flailed it a few times at her friend. "My paw isn't even stiff anymore, but Willowgale says I still need to keep taking those herbs until the end of the moon."

"The ones that taste like river weeds?" Rainfeather responded, amused.

"Those are the ones." Fernwillow laughed. "I have to eat a pile of them every morning. Honestly, you'd have thought I'd had my paw eaten by a fox. It was only a bad sprain."

"You got it caught under a rock underwater! It almost got dislocated!" Rainfeather reminded her, smiling slightly. "You're the worst swimmer on earth."

"Yeah yeah!" Fernwillow shouted over her shoulder, heading for the medicine cat's den.

Rainfeather bent down and stretched her legs, yawning hugely, her tongue lolling lazily out of her mouth. She splayed out her paws and stretched her claws out as far as they would go, groaning as she felt her bones pop and crack.

The tawny she-cat flopped onto her side on the ground and stretched out full-length, trying to get some of the meager warmth from the few rays of sunlight spilling over the horizon. No luck, the ground was cold as stone and the air was chilly enough to almost see her breath.

She sighed and got back to her feet, blinking blearily around the camp. The slight whiff of prey from the other side of camp caught her attention, and suddenly she felt extremely hungry. She turned to face the fresh-kill pile, or the partially-frozen remains of it, and saw two sleep-ruffled toms hunched over it, picking lazily through the few pieces of prey.

Rainfeather stopped walking towards it and hesitated, shifting from paw to paw. Hunger tugged at her stomach, but the last thing she wanted was to have an early-morning conversation with the two biggest fluff-brains in the clans.

She was spared from a decision when the biggest tom, a grey and white cat with the hair on the tom of his head so rumpled it almost stuck straight up, glanced up and caught eyes with her. His ears perked. He turned and meowed something to the other tom, a pale brown tabby, who looked up and also spotted Rainfeather. A crooked smile spread across his face, and he waved her over.

Rainfeather groaned inwardly but padded over to the two grinning lunatics and sat down in between both of them.

"Hey." She said, something between a grunt and a mumble.

"Ello." Hayfur responded.

"Morning." Appletail meowed. The grey and white tom reached for a frost-stiff trout with one paw, but Hayfur snatched for it first.

"Hey!" Appletail cried, grabbing it back.

"I took it first!" The pale brown tabby countered, tugging on the fish.

Rainfeather pressed two claws sharply against her forehead as the two toms dissolved into a full-blown argument over the _stupid fish_. Pretty soon Rainfeather heard them striking blows against each other, and then they were tumbling on the ground, growling and scratching, and then they both rolled a bit too far to one side and bowled into Rainfeather.

She yelped as the weight of the two toms crashed her to the ground. The two of them broke apart at the collision and tumbled down on top of the tawny she-cat. They lay for a moment, panting, splayed out across each other like dead fish tossed in a heap.

"Alright, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Rainfeather screeched, scrambling to pull herself up. The two toms staggered away, panting, as Rainfeather got to her feet, her fur bushed like a porcupine, and began to tear into the two of them, spittle flecking from the corner of her mouth,

"You _idiots!_ What the Dark Forest is wrong with you! What kind of foxbrain fights over a stupid half-frozen fish, when there's enough prey here to feed both of you! You're such kits!" She shrieked.

The two toms blinked at her, their ears flat against their heads, eyes the size of apples. Appletail opened his mouth to respond, then snapped it shut.

"What the Dark Forest-?"

All three cats turned at the sound of Fernwillow returning, looking bewildered. "I leave you alone for four minutes and you've managed to wage war against each other! You're bleeding!"

The three cats instantly looked down at their pelts. Appletail and Hayfur had beads of blood running down their flanks from where they nicked each other, and Rainfeather had a claw mark down one cheek that was steadily trickling blood.

"Just forget it." Rainfeather sighed.

"Alright let's go." Fernwillow mewed, padding for the entrance, and casting confused glances back at her friends. Appletail bounded after her quickly.

"Wait...what about...can't we eat?" Rainfeather shouted after them, but they ignored her. She glanced at Hayfur, who was also looking longingly at the trout (Which had gotten a bit squished in the brawl).

"I guess we're going hungry." Hayfur remarked, then stretched and bounded after the other two. Muttering curses under her breath, Rainfeather stalked sulkily after them.

They took the short way across the river, choosing to bound over the stepping stones instead of swimming over. The toms wanted to push a piece of driftwood off the island and ride it across, but Fernwillow and Rainfeather vetoed that idea immediately.

The river was low thanks to the recently dry weather, so they stepping stones were large and exposed, making it relatively easy to leap and land. Either way, Hayfur still managed to overshoot a leap and plunge into the water, and Rainfeather got a hindleg drenched when her foot slipped off a patch of moss.

They finally made it, some more dry than others, to the other side of the river, where reeds and long water grasses grew higher than the cats' heads. The wind-swept fields continued for about half a mile in every direction, then it sloped off into woods, which got thicker and thicker the farther in it went. That was ThunderClan territory, most of it, anyway. RiverClan had won a few tree-lengths of land in a fight a few moons ago, and although the forest wasn't exactly a comfortable place to hang out in, it offered decent hunting and the bragging rights of owning it were excellent.

The cats split up almost immediately. At first there was the suggestion that they patrol in teams, but then there was the fact that the she-cats refused to let the toms work together, because they would just goof off. And Rainfeather flat out refused to go with either of the boys. And Fernwillow wasn't in the mood to be with Rainfeather this early in the morning. So off they went.

"Pick up some prey if you find it!" Rainfeather yowled over her shoulder as she headed off into the east side of the woods.

Rainfeather scrambled over a mossy rock and dropped silently onto the soft forest floor. It always startled her, a bit, going from the sound of reeds crunching under her feet to the noiseless steps she could make in the wood, where the ground was carpeted in soft pine needles and rotting leaves and spongy mosses. It unnerved her a bit, being able to hear nothing but her own thoughts and the gentle swishing sounds of her fur brushing against leaves.

She was barely two tree-lengths in when the shadows of the forest swallowed her up, encasing her in a dim blanket of muted green. She never liked this part. She didn't do dark. Rainfeather liked light; the sun, the glittering of still water, the bright blue sky. Not this shadowed world that ThunderClan cats enjoyed crawling around in.

She tilted her head upwards slightly, risking a glance at the sky. The bushy trees overhead blocked out the golden threads of dawn light with their leafy hands, almost on purpose, as if they were trying to make the she-cat more claustrophobic. And it was working, in pained her to admit. She was starting to bump into things, and jump at every twig cracking.

_Pull yourself together_. She thought in irritation at herself for being so vulnerable to a little darkness. She shook her fur and took off at run through the woods, struggling to maneuver herself around every bush and tree-trunk.

"See, now you're getting it!" She purred to herself as she began to pick up speed and dodged a bit more easily. She bunched her haunches to leap over a huge tree stump, draped with dark green moss. She sprang, neatly tucking her legs under her at the peak of her leap and grinned like a kit when she made it over the stump-

And crashed right into the ThunderClan deputy.

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**[Author's Note: TO BE CONTINUED! Hee-hee, I'm evil ;3 Till next time!]**


	9. Chapter 9

** [Author's Note: Heh, heh. Um, hi guys! Yep, I'm back. And feel very guilty about this late update. I am a horrible procrastinator, and I've been in a bad mood for a while and didn't want to write this. But here it is, because I felt bad for totally ignoring this story. We're still in Rainfeather's flash-back in this chapter. Anyway, enjoy!]**

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Rainfeather yelped and flipped backwards from the force of the collision. The other cat let out an _oof!_ of pain and tumbled back the other way. The tawny she-cat crashed against the forest floor into a pile of dead leaves, sending them flying up around her.

When her head stopped spinning, she scrambled to her feet, spitting out dirt and leaves, and whirled to face her opponent, hackles raised, claws unsheathed.

"Trespasser! What are you doing on my territory?" She demanded to the cat who was struggling to their feet. They appeared to be a tortoiseshell and was obviously ThunderClan.

"What?" The cat turned to face her, yellow-green eyes narrowed in confusion. He spotted her and frowned. "You're RiverClan, aren't you? I'm not on your territory!"

"Of course you are, you-" The rest of Rainfeather's retort died on her lips as she finally recognized the irritated cat in front of her.

Out of all the ones she had seen, Thrushtail definitely didn't fit the noble images of most deputies. His pelt was tortoiseshell marked, a swirling mix of orange, brown, and black, with a smudge of white across the bridge of his nose, a look usually reserved for she-cats.

He was a rather frail looking creature, bony and slim, with long legs that just made him look unstable. His fur was thin and, other than the attractive markings, didn't make him look any good. His ears twitched and swiveled constantly, as if he was always on alert, his eyes were the color of unripe limes, and the tip of one fang poked out from under his lip.

Rainfeather shook her head and regained her voice. "Yes, you are on my territory. Out, now."

Thrustail's frown deepened. "No, I'm not." He growled. "Stupid she-cat. I haven't passed any markers. Which means _you_ must be on _my_ territory."

Rainfeather snarled at him. "I am not! ThunderClan territory doesn't start until past the silver birch tree."

Thrushtail glowered at her. "RiverClan idiot! The silver birch tree farther to the east. Over _here_ the markers are back there-" He pointed with his tail. "-by the fallen pine tree." He smirked at her triumphantly.

Rainfeather swallowed, remembering vaulting the fallen pine several tree-lengths back. She raised one paw and licked it, trying to seem nonchalant. "So?" She said, her voice squeaking slightly. "I could barely even smell it. ThunderClan needs to keep up their patrol duties."

"What do you think I was doing, foxface!" Thrushtail yelped indignantly, beginning to circle around her.

"Apparently smacking into me." Rainfeather retorted.

"I was assualted! You're the one who came flying over the tree stump like a missile! Fishbrain!" Thrushtail argued, his ears flattening.

"I figured you would have heard me coming. I thought ThunderClan were the kings of the forest." Rainfeather growled lowly.

"We are! Not like RiverClan curs whose heads are so full of water they can't think!" He frowned, eyes narrowing as he scrutinized her. "You're Rainfeather, aren't you?"

"No, I'm Riverstar." She deadpanned sarcastically, somewhat uncomfortable at both the knowledge of her identity and how close Thrushtail was standing as he examined her.

He ignored her comment. "I saw you two gatherings ago." He said. "When they announced you had become a warrior. You were just a cheeky little thing back then, practically bouncing on your toes when they called your name." He continued walking around her in a slow circle. "You look alot different now."

"I'm alot stronger now." She growled lowly.

"Why, had any good skirmishes?" He questioned lightly.

"I'm about to have one." She rumbled almost inaudibly. Inwardly she hissed in frustration. _Either chase me off or fight me, stop small-talking me!_ Were all ThunderClan cats this strange and obnoxious?

The dark light that was filling her eyes seemed to finally rouse Thrushtail, and he shook his head briefly and coughed. "Anyway." He said briskly. "Have you taken any prey from here?"

"No." Rainfeather muttered. "I was just walking."

Thrustail leaned his face in close to hers and inhaled deeply. She squirmed away uncomfortably.

"Nope, can't smell any blood on you." He said, stepping back casually. "You're fine."

_I just told you that, ThunderClan idiot_. Rolling her eyes, Rainfeather turned and began to stalk away through the forest towards her own clan full of cats that still had half their brains functioning properly.

She hadn't gotten more than three tail-lengths when she heard the crunching of leaves and a mass of tortoiseshell fur landed lightly in front of her.

"Where are you going?" He questioned, looking startled.

"Back to my own clan." She snarled, brushing past him and continuing to walk. _Where else would I be going?_

"I'm walking you back." He said quickly, stepping in next to her.

"Why?" She snapped. _I think I know the way back to my own clan!_

He looked bewildered and slightly uncomfortable. "Because you were on my territory. That's-that's what good deputies are supposed to do." He statement sounded almost like a question.

_He doesn't even know what he's doing!_ Rainfeather thought in disgust. _We should invade ThunderClan more often. They never set their markers and their deputy's an incompetent kit!_

Rainfeather walked in silence the rest of the way, trying to act completely oblivious to the cat walking a bit too closely next to her, his tail occasionally accidentally brushing against her flank. She tried and failed not to sigh in relief when the fallen pine tree came into view.

She sprang up over to it, scrambling up the rough bark and sending showers of dead pine needles sprinkling down from the branches. She was about to jump down when there was a scrabbling sound. She turned and lifted her head back up over the side of the log. A tortoiseshell head popped up over the other side.

For a second, their noses brushed against each other, whiskers skimming each other's faces. Rainfeather sprang back in startled surprise, landing back on the forest floor.

"Where are you going?" Thrushtail questioned, barely flinching from the touch. His golden eyes were large and round.

"Home." She snipped, starting to turn away.

"Ah." Thrustail said. He was silent for a few moments, then a thought seemed to occur to him. "Hey, uh, don't-don't do that again. You know, they trespassing thing. Stay on your side, okay?"

"Mmm-hmm." She muttered, continuing to stalk through the woods, leaving the dazed and bewildered tortoiseshell behind.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Meanwhile, a few tree-lengths away, a cat was chasing a mouse through the woods. Brambles snagged at its fur, and tendrils made grabs for its paws, but the cat was intent on the prey.

Rounding a tree trunk, the mouse stumbled over a stone, and with a satisfied hiss, the cat pounced. There was a crack of the mouse's neck breaking, and the cat picked up the limp body, mouth flooding at the taste of blood.

Past the overpowering scent of mouse, the cat picked something else up, and close by. Ears pricking, the cat slithered over to the nearest tree and peered around it. Two shadowy shapes were moving through the woods, walking closely together and appearing to be talking.

Ears flattening, the cat began to creep alongside them. Trying to stay quiet, a deep thrill still coursed through its veins. _Maybe it's ThunderClan, and I'll catch them plotting to take over our territory. I'd get some respect then!_

The cat's heart was starting to sink however. Because, the closer the shapes got, the more and more they looked familiar. One of them in particular.

_No, it can't be_.

Both the shapes stopped in front of a dead tree. Thinking quickly, the cat skittered up the nearest small tree and scrambled out onto one of the twisted branches. Hardly daring to breathe, it peered out over to scene unfolding below.

Yes, it was true. No denying would stop the fact of what was going on down there. Bile rose in the cat's throat.

_Why? Why would she do this? How could she?!_

The mouse forgotten on the ground, the cat dove from the branches and tore blindly through the forest, furious tears spilling down its cheek fur.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Rainfeather padded back through the woods, still unsure if she should be furious or embarrassed. Yes, she had blatantly ignored the scent markers, but that stupid, _infuriating_ ThunderClan cat had treated her like a kit!

Tired of conflicted emotions, she just decided to settle on being frustrated, because it was easier to deal with than the other two. Fur prickling in annoyance, she whipped through the brambles. _I just want to go home and dunk my head in the river!_

A mouse skittered out in front of her paws. She made a grab for it, but it disappeared long before her paws smacked down where it had been a second ago. This reminded her about her lack of prey, as well, which didn't improve her mood at all.

The trees were thinning out, and the scent of reeds and the sound of rushing water replaced the silence of the woods. She breathed in deeply and then scampered forward, clambering over the rocks and dropping down onto the familiar ground coated in wet grass and trampled reeds.

The river stretched out in front of her, babbling and splashing, cool and inviting. Shaking her fur out, she began to move towards it, wanting to dip her paws to remove the mud and grit from the woods.

She had barely gotten to the bank, however, when suddenly the air was lacerated with snarls and hisses. Shadows exploded from under the water, around rocks, behind bushes. She let out a cry before suddenly they were upon her.

The fastest one slammed into her, sending her reeling off balance. Two huge cats lunged forward, clamping their paws over her shoulders and forcing her down. She tried to yell out at them but another set of paws pressed down on her muzzle, forcing her to be silent.

She rolled one of her smokey green eyes upwards and could make out the shape of four cats, _clanmates_, surrounding her. Two hulks of cats, Houndtooth and Greytail, were pinning her down, water streaming off their fur from swimming the river. The tabby and white paws of Flowerpelt held her face to the ground. Another, Whitepaw, was circling the group, blue eyes furious.

Spits and hisses rolled from the cats' throats, and with her ear rammed down into the grass she could only make out a few words.

"...Traitor!"

"Fox-pelt..."

"...Disloyal cur!"

She twisted her head with difficulty and manged to catch more of the conversation.

"Throw her back over the border!" Whitepaw's high voice cried excitedly.

"Wait! Wait! Bring her back to camp! Stonestar can deal with this!" Flowerpelt reminded them harshly.

"Stonestar's her father. He'll never give a fair trial." Greytail argued.

"I don't care, it's the warrior code." Flowerpelt retorted. "And I don't think even Stonestar will help her out of this."

The paws were removed from her muzzle and shoulders, but before she could run teeth clamped down on her scruff, and more on the loose skin by her tail. She was hoisted roughly into the air and dragged across the muddy ground, her face skimming across the grass as she dangled.

After a few tail-lengths the cats carrying her abruptly stopped. "How do we get her across?" Came the muffled voice of Greytail.

"Just swim and pull her along." Flowerpelt snapped in frustration, and from the place where her face was pressed into the reeds, Rainfeather heard the sound of her and Whitepaw splashing into the water.

After another moment's hesitation, the two cats, Greytail and Houndtooth, carrying her began to slide into the water. Rainfeather's paws dipped into the cool river as the padded, until they couldn't touch the bottom anymore and leaped in to swim.

Almost immediately, her face was dunked underwater. She cried out, releasing a thin stream of bubbles through the water. Greytail, holding her scruff, jerked his head up, and she managed to lift her muzzle from the water enough to get a quick, sputtering breath, before she slipped under again.

She flailed her paws wildly, managing to get enough boost to tip her nose out of the water. She struggled to take a breath but it turned into a snort as a wave slapped across her muzzle.

Tipping her head up as high as she could, she manged to burble out, "Hurry up!" before her face dunked under again. All she got in response was a sharp kick to the chest, which may or may not have been an accident.

After a few more minutes of slogging through the water, struggling to get enough breath to stay conscious, Rainfeather felt her toes brush pebbles. A moment later, she was hauled up from the water and tossed onto the bank roughly.

She landed with a splatter of wet fur onto a patch of trampled reeds. She lay there for a moment, gasping in hungry gulps of air, barely conscious from oxygen-starvation.

She scarcely got a moment's rest, however, before her two guards had tramped over and were jabbing her roughly to her feet.

"Up! Up!" Houndtooth growled in his low, rough voice.

"Get into camp and face your trial." Greytail hissed.

Bewildered, Rainfeather stumbled to her feet and staggered unsteadily towards camp, occasionally bumping into one of the cats. The reeds tunnel finally camp into view, and the cats slipped through it.

The scene in front of her was not one of a normal morning in RiverClan. Usually, upon returning from a dawn patrol, a cat would come in to find their clanmates stretched out in patches of sunlight on the ground, nibbling prey and sharing tongues. Kits would race about camp, leaping for butterflies and pouncing on the warriors' tails, while being chased by their exasperated mothers. Everyone would be quiet, content, happy.

Instead, the scene that greeted her was of every warrior and apprentice in camp crowded around the tunnel, their eyes were hard and cold, and their pelts bristling when the tawny she-cat stepped gingerly into camp. Her dusky eyes swept quietly over the group, who stared her down coldly.

Upon a sharp nudge from Greytail, she continued to walk forward. The crowd parted grudgingly as she made her way along, sending hisses and growls in her direction. She finally broke through the cats and found herself seated in front front of the log where the leader went to address his clan.

Seated at the very base of the log were the rest of the patrol that had ambushed her. A few feet away from them sat Rainfeather's patrol, their expressions ranging from angry to pitying to bewildered.

At the sight of the three of them, Rainfeather regained her voice. "Where the _hell_ were you lot?" She hissed. "What did you do? Why are we being treated like rouges?"

A mighty swat from Houndtooth sent her sprawling onto the floor.

"Not 'we'." He said lowly. "_You_."

"Silence, scum." Greytail added. "Keep your muzzle shut until Stonestar returns."

"Where is he?" She questioned, ignoring his command.

He swatted her ear with claws out, but answered her question anyway, "Out." He growled. "Patrol with Twigleaf, Reedfur, and Hawkpaw."

"Should we send a patrol to get him?" Flowerpelt questioned.

"If he's not back soon." Greytail answered.

"We could always deal with her ourself." Houndtooth muttered grimly. There were yowls of asset from the crowd.

"Stick to the warrior code." Flowerpelt snapped. The cats grumbled but stayed still.

Rainfeather was practically shaking. What was this? _What was this?!_ She couldn't even ask what it was she had done wrong. Everyone was staring at her like she was the most vile piece of fox-dung in existence. Her patrol was up there like some sort of jury. Where was her father?

A moment later, there was the sound of reeds clattering, and a slim grey head slid into camp, followed by two toms and a bumbling young brown tabby apprentice.

"Wh-what?" Sputtered the old grey tom, yellow eyes skimming over the cats who were staring expectantly at him. "What is this?"

Greytail loped away from his position next to Rainfeather and stopped in front of Stonestar. He sunk to his knees and bowed his head. "Apologies for the interruption of normal duties, Stonestar." He meowed. "I thought it should be my duty to retell to you the, um, incident that has come to need your urgent attention. You see-"

Stonestar struck out a paw, swatting Greytail on the side of the head. The cat staggered, looking bewildered.

"Stop babbling, son, and get to the point." Stonestar snapped. "What in the name of StarClan is all this?"

Greytail swallowed, collected himself, then began again. "One of our clanmates has been brought to trial."

"Who?" Stonestar snapped.

"Rainfeather."

Stonestar's expression didn't change, save for a brief flicker in his yellow eyes. "On what charges?"

"I think you'd better just come up here, sir." Greytail said quietly. "I, um, I'm not the right one to ask really. I wasn't there."

Stonestar looked like he was considering swatting the cat again, but instead simply nodded. "Very well." He muttered, walking stiffly through the crowd and leaping up onto the log, without a backwards glance at Rainfeather.

He turned to face the crowd, his eyes narrowed. "Will whoever is retelling this crime please step forward?"

Flowerpelt stepped forward almost shyly. She tipped her tabby and white face up to her leader, swallowing briefly before speaking.

"Rainfeather is being brought forth on charges of treason." She said smoothly.

"What?" Rainfeather could not help yelping. Houndtooth's paw came down hard on the side of her face.

There was a streak of grey, and then Houndtooth was flung sharply to the ground by Stonestar. The leader's face was pressed close to his, his teeth bared in a snarl.

"Who told you to inflict harm on her? Are you running this trial, foxdung?" He spat. "You do NOT touch her, understand?" Without waiting for an answer, Stonestar leaped off and stalked back to his log. Houndtooth struggled to his feet and sat back down, casting a baleful look at Rainfeather.

Flowerpelt continued to speak like there had been no interruption. "This morning, while on dawn patrol, Rainfeather was spotted with the ThunderClan deputy Thrushtail. The two were walking quite close together and talking to each other. At first they were on ThunderClan territory, then wandered into RiverClan land. They finally went separate ways by the fallen pine tree, where they exchanged an, ah, brief intimate nose-touch moment before leaving."

"Is that all?" Stonestar asked stiffly.

"Yes, sir. That's all I was told."

"So you didn't witness this." It was more of a statement than a question.

"No, sir. I was just chosen to relay the story. The witness wishes to remain anonymous." Flowerpelt explained.

"Why? Can't he come forward?" Stonestar questioned.

"Does it matter, sir? The information stays the same." Flowerpelt mewed.

"I suppose." Stonestar murmured. He flicked an ear. "Rainfeather, come forward."

Several cats grumbled as the tawny she-cat made her way forward to the front of the log. She tipped her head up to stare at her father. "Dad," She began, struggling to keep her voice steady. "It's NOT true."

Several cats looked like they wanted to protest, but Stonestar's glare silenced them. "Why is that?"

"I was on patrol and ran into Thrushtail accidentally. I had just gone a few paw-steps over the border." Well, maybe she could stretch the truth a _little_. "He insisted walking me back to border, and then I went back into RiverClan territory." She remembered something. "And the nose touch was an accident!" She yelped. She turned to the attack patrol. "And then _they_ ambushed me and beat me up!"

"Lies!" Whitepaw cried out "We were serving justice to the traitor!"

"Shut up, Whitepaw!" Flowerpelt hissed softly. To Stonestar, she meowed, "We were just taking her back to camp for the trial."

"Trial for what?" Rainfeather hissed. "I accidentally ran into the deputy!"

"Liar!" Greytail spat. "You were seen conspiring with ThunderClan scum!"

Too furious to respond to him, Rainfeather whirled about to face her patrol. "You guys!" She cried. "Alright, _friends_, which one of you witnessed this? Which one of you actually thought I was betraying our clan? Which one of you curs ratted me out?"

Not one of them would meet her gaze. She started to take a step towards them when Stonestar's, "Stop, Rainfeather," halted her grudgingly.

Stonestar turned back to the rest of the clan. "I have heard the testimony, and my decision is that I have no reason to punish the warrior Rainfeather."

There were shrieks of protest.

"But she's a traitor!" Houndtooth said, raising his normally low voice. "It was witnessed!"

"By a coward who won't even step forward for the trial." Stonestar retorted. "I have no reason to trust this nameless witness's account over my daughter's side of the story. This trial is over, now everyone _leave_."

The cats stared in shocked silence, then began to slink away from the clearing. Overhead, a clap of thunder rattled, and clouds began to bunch in the sky, which had a few minutes ago been clean and clear.

The cats really didn't know where to go, but if they stayed in the clearing Stonestar would skin them alive. So they began to file into dens, and a few slunk off in small groups to patrol.

Rainfeather refused to meet the gazes of her patrol as they slunk past. She heard the pawsteps of one of them heading towards her, but she turned and raced off in the other direction.

She plunged into the warriors den, not sure why she thought that was the best place to be but not knowing where else to go. Her head was spinning, but she manged to make out the form of her nest off to one side of the den. She began to walk towards it, but ended up on her face when a paw struck out and tripped her.

"Oops." The cat hissed sarcastically.

Swallowing back a snarl, she stumbled back to her nest and sunk down into it. Her wrapped herself into a ball, her tail touching her nose. The reeds and moss her nest was woven out of poked against her pelt, suddenly feeling uncomfortable rather than soft.

She could feel the gazes of her clanmates on her. One by one, the cats in the den padded out, giving her a wide margin, all except one who pretended to trip and step on her tail. She squeezed her eyes shut.

What would her life be like now? She could never been allowed to go out of camp alone. Oh, sure, Stonestar would allow it, but someone would always be stalking after her. She would never be invited out hunting, no one would share tongues with her. Mothers would shoo their kits away from her. At gathers she would never be allowed to chat with the other clans. Some life!

Barely aware of it, she rose up from her nest and staggered out of the den. She pushed through the reeds, which clattered in the wind, which was picking up. Thunder crashed again as she padded down the shore and slid into the water.

She went limp in the current, like how she had learned was the best was to travel through the water, letting it drag her along for several minutes, keeping her head up for breath. finally, she saw a place she could hope off and paddled to shore, gripping the river bottom and shoving off. She grabbed and rock and dragged herself up onto it.

Turning her head, she looked back at the island in the distance. Black storm clouds bunched over it, lightning spiraling down from them.

She swallowed and turned back. Off in the distance, fields and forests stretched on, ending in the snow-capped mountains of PineLand peaks, and whatever lied beyond.

She sent one look back at her stormy home, swallowed, and turned away.

"Good-bye, clan. Good-bye, storm."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

** [Author's Note: Well, uh, there you go. That's why Rainfeather ran away from her clan. Yeah. Anyway, I tried to make this chapter long. I know it doesn't make up for going three weeks without updating, but whatever works. Until next time (Which will not take three weeks this time), ciao! :3]**


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